Anthony that's wrong my friend. The lawsuit was a "look and feel" type lawsuit Also, I do not think the DevCom group had anything to do with GIRLS at all.
From where are you getting this? Memory is a tricky animal. -----Original Message----- From: Anthonys Lists <antli...@youngman.org.uk> To: u2-users <u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org> Sent: Thu, May 2, 2013 2:21 am Subject: Re: [U2] History of Prime Information On 30/04/2013 19:03, Wjhonson wrote: > Anthony I'd be very surprised if the DevCom code was created that way. > My understanding, and I'm willing to be corrected, was that the DevCom code was built independently > (And thanks for those who jogged my memory) > As a Pick-*like* implementation. Which if you read my post, is what I said! Pick Systems picked off all the derivative versions, but couldn't touch the independent versions, such as Devcom/PI. > And the lawsuit wasn't so much a "they stole our code from us", as an "looks like a duck" lawsuit. > So I don't think the DevCom folk worked for or with Dick at all when they developed that code. I don't know whether they worked with Dick or not. But Devcom was a *grandchild* to the group that developed GIRLS, GIRLS split in two, and then Devcom split off from the "not Pick" half. Do read :-) And (most of) the lawsuits were "they stole our code" suits - which was why the end result of "it wasn't your code for them to steal" was so important. Ashton Tate got burnt over the dBase code in exactly the same way - the original code was US government and when they sued over it they got burnt. Cheers, Wol > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Wols Lists <antli...@youngman.org.uk> > To: u2-users <u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org> > Sent: Tue, Apr 30, 2013 10:57 am > Subject: Re: [U2] History of Prime Information > > > On 29/04/13 19:25, Jerry Banker wrote: >> Prime Information was originally developed by Devcom I'm not sure what the > name was at that time but I do know that Prime Computers bought them out and > bought the rights from Pick to develop independently. Prime became a database > powerhouse with the product at one time encompassing almost 50% of the database > business in the US. From what I heard Vmark was a group of users of Prime > Information that decided to go UNIX so they developed UniVerse borrowing much of > the expertise from Prime to build a product that would ride on UNIX instead of > Primos, Prime's operating system. They even took over some of the offices that > Prime had on Speen Street. When Prime went under, don't ask why, at the end of > the 80's, early 90's, Vmark bought Prime Information. > > Actually, I don't think Pr1me bought the right to develop independently. > > iirc, the group developing GIRLS (Public Domain, btw, as all software > developed for the US gov then was) split in two, with Dick forming Pick > Systems as one half. The Devcom guys then split off from the other half > and were sued (like pretty much everyone else) by Dick. The lawsuit then > concluded that the Devcom guys had as much rights as the Pick guys (bear > in mind also, that Devcom was a re-implementation, not a derivative). > > Which is why Pick Systems ended up picking off and taking over all the > derivative versions, but not the re-implementations. > > I wasn't aware of INFORMATION owning a large chunk of the US market, > after all, they were up against Oracle and DB2 in their own back yard, > but it was Pr1me Australia that licenced PI from Devcom, and they ended > up pretty much owning the Aussie market. I didn't think they bought > Devcom out - Devcom might have turned into Revelation, but they did buy > the (joint) copyright to PI. Again iirc, I think the deal was joint > copyright, co-develop, PI on Pr1me and Devcom elsewhere. > > Cheers, > Wol > _______________________________________________ > U2-Users mailing list > U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org > http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users > > > _______________________________________________ > U2-Users mailing list > U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org > http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users > _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
